Dickey to start Sunday after rotation shuffle

NEW YORK -- The Blue Jays have decided to shuffle their rotation and will promote right-hander Liam Hendriks from Triple-A Buffalo to make Friday night's start in Cincinnati.

The start originally belonged to R.A. Dickey, but the veteran knuckleballer has been pushed back two days. He'll pitch in the series finale on Sunday and could use the extra rest after departing his previous outing in the seventh inning because of a groin injury.

The addition of Hendriks also will give Marcus Stroman, Mark Buehrle and Drew Hutchison an extra day between outings as the Blue Jays continue to keep a close eye on the overall workload of their starting rotation.

"We think it's important to protect that rotation a little bit," manager John Gibbons said. "[Hendriks] will come along, he pitched well for us in a couple of outings earlier in the year. Hopefully, he gives us a boost too. He'll be here for one start and he'll go back [to Buffalo], and it will give those guys an extra breather."

The new alignment will see left-hander J.A. Happ will make his scheduled start on Saturday. Stroman will face the Yankees at home on Monday with Buehrle and Hutchison to follow in that three-game series.

Hendriks was the obvious choice after he came through for the Blue Jays in a pair of starts earlier this season. He gave up a lot of hard-hit balls, but he allowed three runs over 11 2/3 innings, which equates to a 2.31 ERA. In 12 games for Buffalo, Hendriks is a perfect 6-0 with a 1.92 ERA with 54 strikeouts in 70 1/3 innings.

"He was going to come anyway, depending on what day he was going to throw," Gibbons said when asked if Hendriks' promotion was because of Dickey's injury. "If Dickey went [Friday], he was going to go on Sunday ... (Dickey) came out of the game with a groin, it makes sense to give him a day or two."